On Wings of Wax
by Otoshigo
Summary: Sequel to "For Want of the Sun." USUK. Supernatural. Character death. One hundred years have passed after the events of FWotS and everything has changed.
1. Chapter 1

The cicadas buzzed, ringing like soft chorus in the background of the warm summer day. A figure stepped up the small wooden steps to the small traditional japanese dwelling far up in the isolated mountains. He slipped quietly inside the sliding paper doors and padded over to the futon spread out over the tatami mat, tucking the yukata underneath his knees as he knelt down.

"Hey, hao are yuu duing'?" he said softly, his American accent awkward and unpracticed in the Japanese tongue.

The elderly Japanese man underneath the thin blanket glanced up to meet his dear friend's eye. "You did not need to come Alfred-san," he spoke, his voice rough with the grain of chronic illness. "But thank you. It means a lot to me."

"Uf coarse," the vampire replied, trying hard to mask the heartbreak that was pooling in his bright blue eyes with a wide smile. He reached out, taking Kiku's frail, wrinkled hand in his own. "It is leest I can do." His fingers squeezed gently. "I wish..." he said in his own English, his throat tightening.

Kiku seemed to understand and nodded faintly. He closed his eyes, content to merely soak in the vampire's presence, even though his fingers were turning cool now that he was out of the sunlight. He could feel the bone ring around the vampire's finger, a constant for nearly a century.

"Have you considered," the elderly man said after a long moment of peace, "going back to Kirkland-dono?"

Immediately, the vampire grew tense, his body seeming to grow even colder as his blue eyes turned glacial. "Never," he hissed softly, feeling his teeth sharpen between his lips. He only just managed to keep his eyes from flashing in defense. "I will _never_ go back."

Then he turned apologetic as his flared temper cooled as abruptly as a hot stoke being plunged into water. "I... sorry. I'm sorry, Kiku. I know you two are friends."

"I have been your friend first," the elderly man replied softly. "And I worry. I worry about you being left all alone. And... and I worry about him. I worry about what he is turning into..." His frail body suddenly heaved with a raspy cough and made Alfred hover over him in worry. However, as he recovered, he spoke in a graveled voice, "Alfred-san... I do not know why you decided to leave. But he has been different without you. Please, to honor the memory of what you once were. Please go and try to at least put your differences to bed."

"Kiku... Kiku, I..." Alfred spoke, his determination failing him. How was he supposed to say no to a dying man's last wish. To _Kiku's_ last wish? "Kiku, c-can't you give me a different... What you're asking..."

Kiku didn't know. Nobody knew. And if they knew, no one would understand or _care_. What was the word of their infallible general as opposed to a stray vampire who should have been slated for execution?

Toris, Ludwig, Eduard... they were all gone. Kiku was the last one...

Kiku, however, only gave his old friend an understanding smile and patted the top of his hand. "I think... I am tired. Let me sleep for a little while. Perhaps we will have some tea later..."

Alfred nodded, even though after all his years with Arthur, he still hated the stuff. Now, he only hated it even more. "Yes, saonds gud," he said, switching back to Japanese to make it easier on his old friend. "I be close bai." Pulling away reluctantly, he pushed himself up off the floor and headed over to room with the hearth. He closed the door behind him with a heavy sigh, feeling his chest ache with loss.

Then he felt a hand touch his shoulder.

"Alfred," a soft and devastatingly familiar voice called into his ear, like the memory of a nightmare.

The vampire reacted violently, throwing his hand up and shoving hard at the nothingness next to him. His punch met with flesh, sending the leader of the Watchers flying and sliding painfully across tatami. The smaller figure let out a sharp wheeze, the full impact of the blow sending him into a bloody coughing fit. It didn't get any sympathy from Alfred. He'd heal up soon enough.

"I _told you_ to never do that," he snarled, baring his sharp teeth and claws. "What the hell are you doing here? Did you follow me?!"

"I, _no,_" the immortal replied, pushing himself up to his feet as he looked his former lover square in the eye, his hand nursing the place where Alfred had crushed his bones with his strength. Arthur Kirkland hadn't changed much in the fifty years since Alfred last saw him. His hair was going that strange grey-blond that Ivan's did, but otherwise, he looked much the same as the young writer that Alfred fell so hard for.

But this man was nothing like him. Not anymore.

"I am here because my _friend_ is dying," Arthur replied shortly, folding his arms over his chest even though he was still in a good amount of pain. Then his gaze seemed to soften as he looked the vampire over. "But... it is nice to see you, Alfred," he added quietly. His eyes landed on the bone ring still upon Alfred's finger and he smiled sadly. "Still have that I see..."

Alfred cradled the ring against himself, his nerves racing at the mention of it. It was his key to freedom. He _needed_ that freedom, especially after having it nearly all taken away. As the Watcher took a step forward, Alfred stepped back, feeling like a cornered animal. "Alfred," Arthur chided sharply, before he changed his tone to something more entreating. "Alfred, _please._ I miss you so much. Please, just stay. I want to talk to you."

Even as a request, Alfred could feel his throat begin to tighten, the aged old Collar doing its nasty work in case the request became command. God, how _stupid_ and _naive_ he'd been to agree to that spell.

"_No,_" the vampire snapped back, watching the flash of pain in Arthur's face. Instead of relishing it, it only made him feel sick. "I am only here for Kiku. I don't have to listen to you. I don't have to talk to you. And I don't want to _see you._ If I hear so much as a peep from you directed at me, I'm going to rip your throat out even if it burns me. And you remember how much it hurt like a bitch last time, don't you?"

Arthur stood there in stony silence, his beautiful green eyes welled with incredulity. He opened his mouth, but wisely shut it. He ducked away, heading through the sliding doors into Kiku's bedroom and leaving Alfred alone to his own thoughts.

His entire body seemed to heave with a long silent sigh, using breath his lungs didn't need. He sank down to the ground, trying to steady his quaking nerves from Arthur's close proximity. His unbeating heart was wrecking the rest of him with a swath of emotions and he realized with horror that he still _did_ care about Arthur, amidst the hatred and the bile. How else could the other man have such a hold over him like this?

Fine. _Fine._ He would stay here. Only just as long as it took Kiku to pass. And he would stay calm and collected, even with Arthur close, just to show how much Alfred didn't give a shit about him anymore.

Then he would leave and never speak to Arthur again, Kiku's last wish be damned.


	2. Chapter 2

_That boy._

_It didn't matter that Alfred was hundreds of years older than Arthur. Somehow, his being stuck in the form of a nineteen year old and Arthur at a grand old age of _thirty-two_, meant he was warranted that title. _

_It had just been an idle comment, offhand, almost affectionate, not meant to be heard by anyone. Yet Alfred's sharp ears had caught it. Sure, it bugged him, but Alfred forgot about it quickly enough._

_Yet years later, one night, it decided to stick to his mind like a fly caught in honey. Alfred couldn't stop thinking about it, his stomach and mind churning as he stayed wide awake next to his sleeping lover long into the night. He didn't even remember the context. Just a whispered couple of words 'that boy', soft and exasperated._

_Alfred had never realized until then just how Arthur saw him. That he was still the sweet little teen that he'd rescued from the brownstone basement._

~o~

It had been a long couple of days since Arthur and Alfred bumped into each other. Both still orbited around Kiku, like two planets destined to never meet, taking especial care to keep their distance. Even so, knowing Arthur was so close by kept Alfred constantly anxious and nervy, especially since the Watcher could sneak up on him so successfully.

However, it never happened. Maybe Kiku had said something to Arthur, but it was two blessed days without seeing that ugly (handsome) face. Alfred was disgusted with himself that he was secretly disappointed, but mostly he just felt awful that Kiku's last days were being spent in such awkward tension. His refereeing days should have been long, long over.

On one of Kiku's better days, Alfred strayed away from the bed long enough to sit out in the warm sunshine of the summer day. He closed his eyes, relishing the sound of buzzing insects and the rustle of the wind over the long grasses and the humid hot smell in the air that made this his favorite of all seasons. A century gone by with his ring and he was still so enamored by daylight. Cradling his ringed hand protectively against his neck, the warm sun threatened to put him right to sleep, like a reptile on a sunny rock.

That is until he smelled the smoke on the wind, an ashy, acrid burn that stung his eyes and nose. Then as he opened his bleary eyes, see the dark pillar rising up from over the mountain. Frowning, he pushed himself up to his feet from the wooden deck, still clothed in the borrowed yukata and wooden sandals. He pulled his watch out from his leather jacket and snapped it onto his wrist to open up the console he'd outfitted for himself. It didn't take him long to hack the Watcher satellites orbiting above Japan just then, turning them to see the fire that had started at the nearby Nano-Nuclear Reactor.

It was amazing what one could do with one hundred years of practice. Computer science and technology was still such a _young_ thing back when he was making his bones in programming.

"Shit, this isn't good," Alfred muttered to himself. He should probably do something about it, but he was loathe to leave Kiku's side while he was ill. ...Then again, Kiku probably also didn't want his house to burn down.

"What exactly do you think you're doing with my satellites?" he heard a voice call out behind him. Alfred only just managed to keep himself from jerking in shock as Arthur snuck up on him_._ His nerves frazzled, he spun around and saw Arthur watching him from inside the sliding doors, looking painfully sweet and _normal _in his green yukata and not the severe Watcher's garb.

"And _how_ would you know that I'm doing anything to your satellites, Big Brother?" Alfred snapped as he abruptly shut off his holographic console. "And why are you even talking to me? I told you I didn't want to hear from you."

He totally would have followed through on his threat to rip the other man's throat out, but he had bigger problems on his hands. "You're just lucky that I have an immediate problem that needs my attention," he said as he brushed past Arthur to get to his own belongings in the guestroom. He quickly changed into the more functional jeans, T-shirt and boots, hearing Arthur make a concerted effort to make noise as he followed him like a lost pup.

"What immediate problem?" Arthur demanded, clearly unable to sense the imminent danger literally over the horizon. After all, he was still only (mostly) human, with human strength and senses. Something his cronies in the Watchers tended to forget.

Ignoring the Brit, Alfred stalked back outside. He picked up a sleek, large metallic disc leaning against the steps, kicking the center button with more force than he'd intended. It ricketed dangerously, but opened up along the rim, building itself out into a sleek cobalt motorized bike.

Despite Alfred's best efforts not to _brutally maim_ Kiku's friend on his front doorstep (at least not until Kiku was gone), Arthur continued to nag like a fussy mom. "_Alfred_, where are you going? Is it dangerous? Let me go with you."

The Collar suddenly choked him, making the vampire inhale sharply as his body bent to the Watcher's bidding. He snarled angrily at it, his fingers clawing at the intangible yoke as if that would free him. Whirling around, he'd fully intended to spit fire at the Brit, but already found Arthur dashing into the dwelling. He was rooted to the spot, like a puppet slumped listlessly over until the puppeteer came back to animate him.

Arthur returned down to the steps, now garbed in his severe red and black body armor, his own personalized console strapped to his wrist giving him a feed from HQ on the local disaster. "I've been briefed," Arthur said as he pulled out his own Cyke. "A breach at the NNR? We should head over there as soon as possible."

Alfred stood where he was, sending the Watcher a look of pure venom. "And just _how_ is that even _remotely _in the Watchers' jurisdiction?" he snapped. He didn't very well have to drag Arthur anywhere if he was staying put.

"You know very well that we've expanded our traditional duties far beyond supernatural oversight," Arthur spouted back as he got on his bike, sounding like the very model of Watcher propaganda. Of course, he did. That was part of the problem. Arthur actually believed his own bullshit. "Now, are you coming, or not?"

Alfred set his jaw into a stubborn line, his blue eyes blazing like neon. To this Arthur simply grit his teeth. "Fine, have it your own way. Someone had better stay behind to look after Kiku anyway." With scarcely another word, he revved his engine and flew off through the countryside towards the site.

His head pounding in outrage and indignation, Alfred let out a frustrated roar. He kicked at an innocent tree, feeling the wood shatter into splinters with the sheer force. It creaked and groaned, the thick tree felled as it came crashing down into the long grasses.

Alfred trembled as he stared at the thing, only just seeming to realize what he'd done. Fuuuuuck, was that a Sakura tree? Weren't those things extremely rare nowadays? Oh God, Kiku was going to be so _pissed._ Or worse, he'd give Alfred one of those sad, disappointed looks that just made him feel like the scum of the earth.

Still, Alfred stooped down, trying to fix his mistake, pushing it back up again as it that would help it knit itself together. He tried to prop it back up with a couple logs and rope. It teetered pathetically off to one side. A mere gust of wind would knock it back over.

...maybe he could just not tell Kiku what happened. Or blame it on Arthur. Yeah, yeah, that was better.

Heaving a great sigh, Alfred collapsed his cobalt Cyke back into disc form and kick off his boots as he headed back inside. Retreating quietly into Kiku's room, he came over to kneel by the older man's side. "_Hey, Kiku,_" he called softly, wondering if the elderly man was awake. He laid down on the floor next to him, watching as Kiku breathed heavily and turned his soft black eyes towards him. "_Yuu duing okay?_"

Kiku made a soft amused noise. "_I heard some arguing. Then a tree fall. It is peaceful now,_" he replied as Alfred had the grace to blush. Those dark eyes looked over Alfred's clothing. "_Were you going somewhere?_"

"_It is guud_," Alfred reassured him quickly, forgetting himself and using English. "I didn't want to leave you. Arthur's gone off to take care of it. I'm sure he's already called in the cavalry," he added bitterly. "There was some breach at the NNR nearby. I don't think it'll get here, but I'll help you if need be." He paused as the elderly man gave him an alarmed look. "What? What's wrong?"

"_He should not be anywhere near Nano-Nuclear tech,_" Kiku said in a rush of breath, so quickly that he wheezed to speak again. "_Alfred-san, get him away from there. It's... dangerous._"

"What? What are you talking about? You think he's going to try to use it to take over the world or something?" the vampire asked quickly, jumping to the obvious conclusion.

However, his old friend shook his head. "_My... my research. To find out what exactly Kirkland-dono is now. I... I still do not know, Alfred-san. However, I found out... If... if he gets near..._"

It was getting too hard for him to continue, but Alfred got the gist. More than the gist. A cold wash of terror swept right through him, irrational and unwanted, but there anyway seizing up his undead heart. Before he could stop himself, he ran back outside, barely remembering to pull his boots back on before he tore off, following Arthur to the disaster site.

As he grew nearer, the air grew thin from the smoke. He shut down his lungs, preferring not to breathe, but his eyes stung anyway and teared up as he drew closer. Now over the ridge, he could see the fire roared at the base of the reactor, billowing thick plumes of smoke into the sky.

Two black choppers were already in the air, pouring out clay sand to put out the fire. More black and red garbed crews were at the base, doing what they could to freeze the flame with liquid nitrogen. No one bothered with the clunky radioactive protection Alfred so associated with reactor disasters. The nanotech had erased all the dangers from it. The question still burned as to why _Arthur_ would be affected, even as he searched out the Brit amidst the adrenaline soaked rescuers.

_Somany-bloodpumping-delicioussweetred-_

Alfred shoved the Want away hard and deep, even as his teeth ached for something besides the synthetic blood he'd been drinking while at Kiku's. An even poorer substitute than the blood bank. However, stupid, _stupid Arthur_ was in danger. So he had to just _focus!_

Relief flooded him when he saw the slender figure of the Watcher standing on the outskirts of the disaster recovery teams. Arthur stood by calmly, a handkerchief placed over his mouth as he observed the clean up.

Alfred made a beeline straight for him, ignoring the way that Arthur yelped and struggled as the vampire launched at him and hauled him away. Then seeing who had assaulted him, the Watcher immediately relented, "A-Alfred?" Now he was more surprised than anything, eyes so full of hope it made the vampire cringe. Then he seemed to remember himself and grew more grave. "Alfred, what's wrong?" he demanded as Alfred tugged him back to their Cykes. "Did something happen to Kiku?"

"Arthur, don't-" the vampire spat out at him. Right before the very air around them exploded. A sound like a bomb shook the very ground beneath them and threw them forward as it hit their backs as hard as a crash of water. Thrown forwards, they tumbled down the bank, spilling into the tall grasses. Groaning in pain, Alfred pushed himself up off of Arthur and looked skywards and saw that the sky was a sickly purple like the color of a bruise. Well, at least the nanites were working...

...The _nanites!_

Alfred's gaze snapped back down, fear spiking through him. He didn't exactly know what he was supposed to expect. His face skin breaking out into lesions? Something? However, the Brit was knocked out stone cold. Which was kind of a blessing, to be honest - or so Alfred tried to tell himself. He picked Arthur up into his arms, his knees unsteady as his body still trembled from the shock of the blast.

A couple cronies bounded up to them as he went to his Cyke, which had miraculously simply toppled over undamaged in the grass. "Excuse me! Excuse me, sir! Where are you taking Commander Kirkland?"

Alfred gave them a blank stare as his Cyke unfolded out. _Commander Kirkland?_ Oh sweet Jesus. "Look me up," he told them, tapping the little visors they had over their eyes. While their facial recognition was still whirring away (maybe they had gotten damaged in the blast), Alfred added. "And I am taking him to Honda Kiku's house. Look him up too. Don't you dare follow us there. You got that?"

Finally, one of their visors beeped and the Watcher jumped in shock. "Wh-who- you!" he stuttered, pointing a finger in Alfred's direction. "You're Agent Estonia! The daylight vampire!"

"Tsumori!" his partner snapped, slapping the man's hand down. "Don't be an idiot! Vampires don't exist! That's just a rumor!"

Alfred cocked an eyebrow. ...Okay, clearly the Watchers were getting a bit too good at the exterminating thing. Also, _Estonia?_ He thought he'd hacked that to America ages ago. Damn it, Arthur probably had his file on backup.

His impatience at an all time high, Alfred sharpened his eyes and hissed at them, "_You will pretend you've never seen me. Commander Arthur simply returned back to Honda Kiku's house on his own accord. He will personally castrate anyone that follows him. Is that understood? Now go back to your business._"

The entranced humans nodded, turning around to stumble drunkenly back to the disaster site. Letting out a sigh of relief, Alfred picked up Arthur's bent Cyke and strapped the Brit to his back using the retractable straps from the portable disc. "Hold on," he told his unconscious passenger and sped his way back to Kiku's house.


	3. Chapter 3

_When they realized that Arthur couldn't do magic anymore after turning anti-natural or whatever Ivan was, Alfred scarcely thought anything of it. After all, he'd never really known Arthur to do _any_ magic in their time together, so it wasn't too strange that the Brit's interests were now limited to the theoretical._

_Yet he knew now that should have been the first sign that something was terribly, terribly wrong._

_One fall afternoon, they sat in the living room of their brownstone, trying to figure out how to remove Alfred's Collar now that Arthur couldn't do it himself. Alfred's head spun as he looked over all the meaningless gobbledy-gook inked out over the ancient pages. He let out an annoyed groan and let his head fall to the pillow. "I can't look at this stupid stuff anymore! Why's magic so stupid, Arthur! This goddamned thing should've gone away with your spellcasting!"_

_His partner gave Alfred a cold look that made the vampire internally wince. Right, he forgot that Arthur was especially sensitive about his magic-loss. Still, Alfred didn't know why he was complaining when the alternative was being _dead_. "I _told _you, my magic made yours work against you," Arthur said through gritted teeth. "There's never _been _a situation where an unwilling master was unable to remove the Collar. Unless they're dead and it's a moot point!"_

"_Yes, I know. You told me. Look, sorry, I'm just- frustrated okay?" Alfred told his peeved lover. "I know you're trying, but this Collar thing really sucks. I don't think you even realize when it gets activated."_

"_I do so! I choose my words very precisely around you," Arthur snapped back. He tossed one book aside carelessly, moving onto the next._

"_In bed," Alfred added flatly. It could've been a joke, but it wasn't a very funny one at all. However, it did get a good splutter and a blush out of his partner, which did crack a smile. "Then again, I never hear you complain, so I guess that's something," he added with a smug smile._

_Arthur merely let out a small humph and went back to his research._

_Alfred laid across the couch, looking over at Arthur's hunched shoulders from his position on the ground as he poured over the mess of books. Arthur had so much going on, it was a wonder that he didn't somehow crack from the pressure. "Hey, Artie?" he called out softly, pulling those gorgeous green eyes towards him. "Let's take a break. We don't need to get this Collar off right away. I know you won't abuse it. Why don't you come up here with me and tell me what stories you're working on."_

_The vampire did not expect to be met with a sudden stony silence. Arthur didn't speak, and the tension in the air twisted Alfred's guts like a knife. What the hell was going on? Finally, the Brit said, "I haven't touched my writing for a few months. I'm not working on anything."_

_The news socked Alfred like a punch to the stomach. "What? Wait, why not? Arthur, you love writing!"_

"_I've been too busy with Watcher duties," Arthur replied shortly, though it sounded unconvincing to Alfred's ears. "They are far more important than piddling my time away over fiction. I already sent all my outlines to my editors. They'll find someone else to write them for me."_

"_Art, that's ridiculous_._ You always said that writing is part of you," Alfred said quickly, desperately trying to ignore what was so obvious underneath his lover's words. "You're Arthur the Author. That's it. All this- this stupid Watcher stuff- That's not you. You're my sweet poet, remember?"_

_The next round of silence was even more sickening than the last, pungent with unease and foreboding. "Arthur..." Alfred called softly, his voice strained with dawning horror, "can you... can you not... anymore...?"_

_Arthur answered by slamming his book closed. It was tossed off to the side, replaced with a new one. Then another. Then another._

_He never replied and Alfred never asked about it ever again._

~o~

Alfred rushed Arthur's prone body back into Kiku's house, not bothering to kick off his boots as he threw open the sliding door to Kiku's room. "He's out," he said in a rush of breath. " .He' ,what's_wrong_withhim?"

His friend turned tiredly over to the vampire, hardly able to process Alfred's English spoken at bullet speed in his ailing state. "_P-please, repeat that. Slower_."

Panic was setting in, however, so Alfred blurted out, "Research! Whereisit!" Understanding, Kiku slowly gestured to one of the sliding doors. Laying Arthur down, Alfred rushed to the doors and threw them open. Inside, he found more bedding and a rather state-of-the-art smart home system tucked up in the shelving. However, his eyes fell on a large flat wooden box. Flipping open the lid, which turned out to be a crystal screen, the bottom half pure storage. Kiku's passcon. He booted it up and found the holographic keyboard light up. "Password?" he called out, but he was moving too quickly for Kiku to answer, shoving his wrist console into a port. A program of his own making hacked the security, spilling all its secrets out to the vampire.

...Which he couldn't understand.

Alfred squinted at it, switching to book mode and flipping through the holographic pages that Kiku had been meticulously keeping his notes in. He vaguely recalled seeing a lot this before back when he was still with the Watchers. Illustrations and ancient depictions scrawled out in notes. Then it got to the nanotechnical math which made a little more sense, but _now _it was all in Japanese. Shit, were some of those scribbles before in Japanese too? He turned back to his friend, desperate. "Kiku, what am I looking at? Is he supposed to be like this?"

Kiku shook his head and coughed. "_It is not clear if he was affected. Put him to bed. See if he wakes._" His weak voice reminded Alfred just how ill he was and the vampire flushed from causing such a ruckus while his friend was so ill.

Nodding, Alfred grabbed the bedding to roll the futon out, laying Arthur gently on top of it. Laying the Watcher on his side, he tugged the body armor off, not shy about his nudity after so many years together. His blue eyes caught onto the wretched mark on Arthur's chest, sending a growl rippling from his lips. He roughly pulled a yukata over it, hiding the offensive thing away from his sight, soon followed by a blanket tugged up to the unconscious man's chin.

Then, the vampire caught onto Kiku's knowing look and quickly turned away from it. "I still hate him," he said defensively. "I can hate him and still look after him can't I?"

"_If you say so,_" Kiku replied with a small smile that crinkled his eyes. He nodded to the passcon. "_Keep it, Alfred-san. I have no need for it anymore._"

"Are you sure?" Alfred asked in surprise. He slid his hands reverently along the teak wood of the box. It was nearly a century of research, which was nothing to sneeze at even in vampire years.

"_I think you will take care of it,_" the elderly man replied softly as he closed his eyes. "_The house and the land will be Kirkland-dono's. I wish no offense, but... you and paper houses..._"

"Ah... yeah, probably good idea," the vampire flushed. The tree outside had already flopped back into its prone position on the ground. His eyes went to the box, wondering if somehow it held the key to... No, he couldn't think like that. He was getting all stuck up in this again. He'd promised himself he wasn't going to be involved with Arthur or the Watchers anymore. He was just here to help Kiku pass.

However, his treacherous eyes strayed over to Arthur, his stomach twisting painfully at the sight of that handsome resting face. Should it be taking him this long to wake up? Usually it only took him a half hour to bounce back from a head injury. "What... what would happen if he was affected?" he asked quietly.

"_It is not clear,_" Kiku replied. "_My theory is that Kirkland-dono is not actually here. It is... hard to explain. He is... an entity outside of space._"

"Like... an alien?" Alfred asked, half expecting a laugh. After all, his colleagues had mocked for it constantly in the Watchers. Which he thought was highly hypocritical, seeing as they were working for a giant martial non-governmental organization devoted to the iron supervision of all things Supernatural. Seriously.

"_Perhaps_," Kiku allowed, in a tone that meant he didn't believe it for a second. He was just being nice. He was sweet like that. Alfred smiled at that, wishing desperately that Kiku wasn't leaving him so soon. "_More like..." _he said and gave a hoarse cough,_ "a void and Kirkland-dono is a visual projection_."

"And so... the electromagnetic-inhibitors in the nanotech would somehow interfere with the... visual projection?" Alfred hazarded a guess, even though so much of this still didn't make a lick of sense. How could anyone literally _be_ a corporeal void? Much less pass it on from one person to another? Were there even other people like that or were Ivan, and now Arthur, the only ones? "Wait, so... he'd just _disappear?_"

"_Possibly. Theoretically_," Kiku replied softly, his breathing growing labored.

Alfred stared at him, caught in between the impulse to interrogate him further and to let his friend rest. Shit, but how was he supposed to respond when he was just told Arthur could literally _fade from existence?_

Nope. Not going to care. Not. Going. To. Care.

_...Damn it!_

Alright, _fine_. He did care. He didn't _want_ Arthur to disappear. He'd rather Arthur just stay far, far away and preferably _not _doing what he was doing right now. But alive in any respect.

"_You wear your heart all over your face_," Kiku remarked, not unkindly, drawing Alfred's attention back to him. "_It is only a possibility. He looks fine now. Just... keep an eye on him_."

"Kiku, you have to stop giving me last wishes," Alfred said with a strained smile. "Seriously, you're breaking my balls here."

"_I apologize_."

"No, stop apologizing," the vampire said with a wave of his hand. "Jeez, you're always apologizing." He waited for a response to the lighthearted jibe, but was met with a cool silence. His eyes snapped over to Kiku, his throat tight with worry. "Kiku?" he called softly, his phantom heart beginning to pound. He gently shook his shoulder. "Kiku?"

The elderly man suddenly gave a small wet noise, startled awake. "_Ah, ah, Alfred-san... I apologize. I must have dozed off..._"

"What did I just _say?_" Alfred asked with a weak, shaky laugh, still trembling from the thought that he might have just lost him. And might do so at any minute. Switching back to his terrible Japanese, he said gently, "_Kiku-san, get sum rest, okay? I ask too many questions. Yuu luke very taired._"

The aged man made a noncommittal noise, which the vampire took as assent, and let his eyes close. Thankfully, from his breathing and heartbeat, Kiku was just sleeping. Alfred sat back, feeling his veins and teeth aching for something to eat, but the Want was a small trickling stream in the back of his mind now. He wanted to stay by the pair for just a little bit longer. Just in case.

Inevitably, his blue eyes strayed over Kiku and slid over to Arthur once more. He had to keep eyes on him, else he'd never even know if the Watcher was _there,_ much less alive and breathing. Curling his arms around his legs in a defensive ball, Alfred watched him close to monitor him for any suspicious translucency. Tentatively, he reached out and traced his fingertips out over Arthur's cheek, a small jolt running through him as his cool fingertips met with warm, soft skin. Still here. Still definitely here. Although Alfred knew that if he took his hand away and closed his eyes, the Watcher may as well vanished.

The thought sent a chill of dread crawling down Alfred's spine.

A void, Kiku had said. Like there was nothing actually there. Just a giant chasm that looked like Arthur. God, how horrible that it fit so well. Alfred pulled his hand away, trying desperately not to give into his fear that the Watcher was going to disappear in the blink of an eye. He let out a mirthless laugh, running a hand back through his hair.

"I don't know why I'm so surprised that you're not invulnerable," he told Arthur's passive face, "When I know more than anyone how broken you are."


	4. Chapter 4

_Alfred thought Arthur was taking things a little bit _too _seriously when he decided they should have swearing in ceremonies for the new recruits for the Watchers. Still, he didn't want to take away the silly little joys that Arthur found out of his new position. So he smiled secretly to himself as he tried to act very grave and austere as Arthur went around and formally thanked everyone for joining up and gave his little speech and blah, blah, blah~ Besides, he'd never seen Kiku so excited before in his life when Arthur pinned a small badge to his lapel. _

_He also tried to look not so dang _hungry._ He probably looked sinister looming against the wall, smiling and looking as though he wanted to eat them all up. But seriously, how long was this whole thing supposed to take? He closed his eyes, willing the Want to just _shut up_ for once._

_Then he heard Ludwig whisper, "This is the one that took care of our problem in Columbia."_

_Alfred's eyes snapped open. Problem? What problem? His sharp blue eyes flicked over to Ludwig, just in time to see Arthur nod in response and give a grim smile to the recruit, whom Alfred recognized as one of the members of the NYPD. A colleague of Ludwig's? And Columbia, why did that ring a bell?_

_Recognizing there was no point in disrupting this whole thing to go and interrogate the pair, Alfred waited until everything was over and he and Arthur could leave to their room to decompress. He was a jittery mess and was grateful when Arthur gave him an entire box of blood bags, guessing (partially-rightly) that was the cause of his lover's nerves. Alfred attacked several bags of them, sating his hunger before he attacked the different problem._

"_Hey, Artie?" he said as he lapped the blood from his lips. "What were you and Ludwig talking about? With Columbia?" Never expecting the Watcher to start so violently and with such... _guilt.

"_You heard that?" he asked, striding across the length of their cozy new quarters in Watcher HQ to examine some reports that had pooled on top of his writing desk. He didn't look back at Alfred. Something that worried the vampire. "Columbia was where Vlad worked, remember?"_

_Ah, that's right. How could he forget _that?_ "Okay, so what was the problem?" Alfred insisted, sucking on a blood bag like a Capri Sun._

_Arthur shrugged, trying unsuccessfully to put his boyfriend off the scent. "Is that enough blood? I can get you some more. I know it's still hard being in large groups."_

_The vampire frowned. Why was Arthur being so damn evasive? After a long moment, he finally pressed, "Arthur, you never told me about what happened when you went to Columbia with the blood golem." Even if he couldn't hear Arthur's blood pumping, he could still see the way the man was tensing up. He'd hit the nail on the head._

"_It's _handled_," the Watcher finally snapped, slapping the top of his papers hard with his hand. "It's already handled and I don't want to talk about it, alright? Please?" _

_Alfred nodded slowly, sipping at his blood even as he burned in curiosity and dread. That seemed to appease his partner, who then went on to chatter on about recruitment and other boring numbers._

_Later, the vampire cornered Toris alone. A quick flash of his eyes had him under his submission and it was but a moment before Alfred found out the truth. A truth that made his veins freeze and his stomach curdle._

_An innocent man had died._

_And the Watchers had covered it up._

~o~

Alfred kept vigil over Kiku and Arthur both throughout the painfully long night and through most of the next day. The Watcher's condition remained unchanged. However, the vampire could sense Kiku steadily growing weaker and weaker, his breath growing more shallow and his heartbeat slowing. Alfred stayed close by, holding onto Kiku's hand, leaving only to devour packs of synthetic blood when his hunger became too great.

Soon, it was getting to be time. Alfred could sense it. In the twilight hours, he stuck close to Kiku, settled in between his and Arthur's futons. He curled up on the floor, his eyes anxiously watching his dear friend. Watching him breathe, watching his eyelids flutter, feeling his heartbeat slow even more. "Arthur..." he called out to the Brit, still unmoving behind his back. "Arthur, if you're gonna wake up, do it now. Wake up."

Of course, he didn't respond. Fucking vegetable. He should never have come here. He would have never been hit by that nanite cloud and he would never be causing Alfred so _much_ pain and anxiety.

_B-bmp...b-bmp...bmp..._

Tears pricked the corners of Alfred's eyes, hearing and feeling the deafening silence. Even the cicadas outside were quiet, in deference to the soul that just passed them by.

A wet sob escaped him, feeling Kiku's hand turn as cool as his own in his grip. He hiccuped, trying to control the pain that was threatening to tear his flesh from the inside out. "Kiku..." he cried, clutching the hand close as he rocked over his friend's body. "Oh God, Kiku..." He was alone now. Last man standing. Again.

No. Worse.

He wasn't.

Suddenly, Alfred whirled around, his eyes snapping over to Arthur's prone form. "Wake up!" he cried at him. "Wake up you stupid, son of a bitch! You came all the way here to see him die, didn't you? Didn't you!" He grabbed the Watcher by the collar of the yukata, shaking him roughly. "Why did you even come if you're not going to- to-!"

He couldn't speak anymore, all his strength draining out of him as his anger was snuffed out by the wave of overwhelming loss like a candle hit with a tsunami. Arthur fell back like a rag doll on top of the futon, as Alfred quaked and screamed out his grief for no one but the cicadas to hear.


	5. Chapter 5

"_Alfred!"_

_The vampire glanced back over his shoulder, finding Arthur stalking up towards him in the corridor like a furious tempest. Oh no, what did he do now? He waved off the Watcher trainees and turned back to face the Brit. "Artie? What's wrong?" he asked, feeling his stomach pool with dread. Did he accidentally shred one of Arthur's super important reports? Put one of his spellbooks in the dishwasher? Pour his favorite scotch down the drain - though to be fair, Arthur had that one coming._

_However, the Watcher grabbed his arm and hauled into into an empty room for some privacy. Arthur put his hands on his hips, his expression dark and furious like a lion about to attack. It would have sent any young recruit running for the hills. Honestly, to Alfred it sort of made Arthur look like an irate mother bear. Which was scarier, he thought._

"_What exactly do you think you're doing training in vampire extermination exercises!" Arthur snapped. "Running around with a bunch of blithering idiots waving stakes around! Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?!"_

_What _that?_ "Oh come on, Artie," Alfred scoffed. "They're just kids. You seriously think that one of them is going to accidentally stake me in the heart? The stakes aren't even _sharp._" He never thought that Arthur would work himself into a fit over something so _dumb._ More than that, he _liked_ hanging out with the trainees. They were the only ones in this giant corporation that didn't think of him as their great leader's pet vampire._

"_You cannot possibly know that nothing will happen!" Arthur hissed back. "You're undead, not invulnerable!" He reached out, grabbing Alfred's arms, his hold tight and desperate, eyes wild. "Alfred, I cannot lose you. Do you understand? I still don't know what was done to me. I don't know how to pass it on, to end living. I-I'm terrified by it. Please, please, Alfred," he begged, his voice quaking with a throaty sob. "If I lose you... I c-can't..."_

"_Artie..." Alfred breathed softly, his indignation melting away as he wrapped his arms around Arthur's shoulders. "Shhh, shh," he hushed softly as Arthur clung to him. "You took Ludwig's death really hard, didn't you?" he guessed, pressing a kiss to the Brit's cheek. Arthur nodded, holding onto the vampire tightly. Alfred smiled sadly. "The first one's always hard... and the way he went? It really shakes you up, knowing it's just going to be the first of so many. But you know, they live on with you, through memories and dreams-"_

_The vampire stopped short, mentally kicking himself for forgetting that Arthur didn't dream anymore. However, the Watcher didn't seem to react to the slip and only slaked his comfort from holding onto Alfred's gangly body. Relieved, Alfred reached up to stroke his soft, choppy hair, giving what reassurances he could through touch._

_After a long moment of comforting his lover, the vampire finally steeled himself to ask, "Artie? Have you ever thought that... maybe Ivan had the right idea? Staying out of the Watchers so much. Being less involved. It was probably a lot easier on him..."_

_This time Arthur did tense, but Alfred was prepared for it. "Listen, listen," he hushed gently. "I'm not trying to compare you to him. I'm just saying... I want you to be as happy as possible and I don't think all this," he gestured vaguely at the stark, fluorescent-lit steel walls, "This doesn't make you happy. It hasn't for a long time. I mean, we're in the middle of Texas for Pete's sake. You _hate_ Texas." Not to mention, he was uneasy about the direction the Watchers were headed. They were ironically even more shady now they were officially a public entity._

"_It was the only space-" Arthur started hotly, but froze when Alfred rolled his eyes preemptively for the spiel. "You are such a hypocrite! You said you liked it here!"_

"_I did. I _do,_" the vampire retorted, "but _you_ hate it. That's my point."_

"_And my point is, I'm not in the Watchers to be _happy_. I'm in it to make the world a better place," Arthur snapped, before his gaze softened. "Alfred, you're the only thing that makes me happy anymore. That's why- The thought of ever living without you..." He shook his head, willing himself not to start the waterworks again. "That's why I'm terrified of something happening to you. So can you _please_ not do the damned vampire extermination exercises anymore?"_

_Alfred wilted, thinking of all the fun he'd had running around with the cute trainees. Still, Arthur probably had a point. "I can still hang out with them though, right?" he asked hopefully._

"_Of course..." the Watcher replied, relieved he'd managed to talk Alfred out of his activity. "Why not try the computer science division for a while? They're starting on the environmental simulation side-project of mine. You love working with computers, don't you?" A nod. "And... thank you..." he added quietly, his eyes darting shyly downwards._

_A small smile spread over Alfred's lips. Alright, maybe it was worth not running around like a loon with a bunch of kids waving (non)pointy sticks. As long as it gave Arthur some peace of mind. "Hey, I love you," he reminded him softly, drawing the Brit's chin up to see those beautiful green eyes, leaning in close._

"_I love you too," Arthur breathed, his eyes half lidded, meeting the distance to be pulled into a warm, adoring kiss._

~o~

Alfred held out for as long as he could, before he finally decided that Kiku's funeral arrangements just couldn't be put off. Along with the passcon and a few other trinkets, Kiku had left him with a manila envelope that contained all the instructions for the arrangements he wanted.

With the Watcher still stuck in limbo or wherever he was, the vampire took off down the mountain to the small town in the foothills. His Japanese still awkward and laughably bad, he nonetheless managed to get his point across to the monk at the temple who Kiku had spoken to about the ceremony.

When the kind man had patted Alfred's shoulder in wordless sympathy, the vampire almost broke down all over again.

The wake passed without incident, as did the funeral and the cremation. It only became awkward at the bone picking ceremony that usually required two people. Alfred did it on his own, picking his friend's bones from the ashes to place in an urn. All the while trying not to think about how unfair all of this was. Unfair that Kiku didn't have the two people he had wanted to do this. Unfair that Arthur was supposed to be there, helping and suffering with him. Unfair that Alfred never felt so lonely in his undead life, trying to ignore the way the morticians looked at the strange white boy with pitiful expressions as he tried to keep his chopsticks from shaking in his fingers.

He shut down, coping by going numb. Pretending that the bones he was picking up did not belong to his dearest friend. Pretending that the urn he carried back was just a pretty pot. And the picture and incense set up on a low wooden table in the stark living space was just a photo and not a shrine. Pretending that the aching absence of life in the house just meant that Kiku had stepped out on an errand or had gone to the temple. Pretending that he was looking out for Arthur against his will because Kiku had guilted him into it. That he'd be back any day now and take over.

Then one day, Alfred stepped into Kiku's room to check up on the Watcher and found Arthur kneeling on the tatami and looking over to Kiku's empty futon. The vampire stopped cold in the doorway, just as Arthur's green eyes snapped up to him. "Where's Kiku?" Arthur asked after a long moment, his voice calm but very soft.

A wave of anguish, loss and anger and stupid _relief_, breached the numb lid he had slammed down on the boiling pot, bubbling over until Alfred's eyes filled with tears. "I hate you," he whispered, his voice as shaky as a leaf in a storm, his trembling hands fisting at his sides. "_I hate you so much._"

Arthur's eyes widened, but he didn't say a word. It took him but a moment to gather what happened and he rose up to his feet. He padded over to Alfred, a hand tentatively outstretched. Alfred slapped it away as he came near. "Don't _touch _me!" However, the Watcher ignored him, reaching out with both hands, gathering his former lover up into his arms in a tight embrace. The familiarity of it, the heat, the smell, the contours of his flesh, was too much for his loneliness to bear. Alfred surrendered into it, his sobs only heightening as Arthur hushed him gently, running a comforting hand over his back.

Then Arthur silenced him completely with a firm kiss to his lips.

Alfred made a wet noise of protest, but this too he surrendered into. His mind was swimming, dizzy, drowning in the intensity of his loss and need. He kissed back hungrily, trying to replace all his thoughts with the comfort of this warm body pressed against him. When Arthur's fingers began to tug his yukata off his shoulder, however, he stopped him. His hand gripped Arthur's tightly, holding it in place. "Not here," he whispered, drawing the Brit's eyes up to his. "Outside."

Arthur nodded silently, not trusting his voice not to break this strange and tenuous truce between them.

Taking the blanket with them from his futon, the vampire led them outside and stopped on the wood deck. There, Alfred kissed him again, stealing away his very breath and devouring his lips. Fabric pooled at their legs as they tugged at their yukatas. Alfred shoved Arthur up against a wooden beam, the Brit's breath hitching as the vampire's larger hands slid down his sides and trailed over the spots that would make him _burn._

They both slid down to the ground, limbs spreading over the blanket. There was a simple ease and familiarity between their bodies, perfect to keep him from needing to think. Arthur's hands slid over his thighs, his lover moaning and trying not to wriggle as Alfred lowered himself down onto him. His breath was hard and hot, hands needy and touching and grabbing as the vampire rocked into him. His eyes shone, bright beautiful green like chips of polished emerald. Alfred leaned down, kissing him, swallowing down the Brit's moans which were sweet as ambrosia.

"Alfred... Alfred, please..." Arthur begged, his skin burning like coals underneath Alfred's fingers. Hissing, Alfred teased Arthur with his moderate pace, making him arch up into him and whimper with need. Only when he was good and ready did he pick up the pace, letting his mind slip into the height of pleasure.

Below him, Arthur suddenly cried out, spilling into Alfred's body. The vampire followed, gasping as his own pleasure burst like a white hot bubble. His limbs shook, too heavy to keep up and he pushed himself off and collapsed down next to his lover. Arthur was already out like a light, his arm curled loosely over the Alfred's waist. It felt nice and _safe_, as he pushed away the part of his mind that said that it shouldn't.

He missed this.

His own eyes slipping closed just for a little while to rest.


	6. Chapter 6

**He should have seen it coming.**

**He should have known it all along.**

**Should have.**

**Could have.**

"_Artie?" he spoke, watching as his partner stalked out of the halls of Congress. There was something very wrong. The testimony must have gone badly. "Artie, what happened?"_

"_Fools," came the harsh whisper that only a vampire's ears could pick up. Then he roared into the chamber, "The world is going to end unless we _do something!_ It's going to bloody end, the seas will rise, the earth will dry up and crack underneath our feet, no food, no water, no people, no _nothing!_"_

**Paranoia was a disease, just as much so as his blood addiction. More so in a madman who couldn't dream. Who couldn't wake up.**

"_Artie," he said and reached out to the Watcher. Arthur reared back as if burned, whirling and turning his green eyes to him. They were so dark. All hope gone, vanished, instead replaced by unconquerable terror._

"_Just me," the Watcher said, his voice trembling. "It's just going to be me. Everyone else is going to die. I'm going to be all alone. I can't even kill myself."_

_Bile and dread pooled in his stomach and he reached out again, trying to take Arthur's hand. "Artie, please, don't talk like that. I'm immortal too, remember? I won't leave you alone. Please? Please, I love you. Don't talk like that. I'll be right here with you."_

_The dark eyes turned towards him, uncomprehending, as if seeing him for the first time. "You... you _can_ die. You'll die without people, without blood."_

"_Artie..." he said, feeling for the first time a foreign sense of danger coming from the man._

"_You're going to die. Unless I stop it," Arthur insisted, his hands reaching up to cup his cheeks. He resisted the urge to pull away from him, trying to ignore the threat emanating from the Watcher. "Don't worry," the Watcher said softly, his voice, his eyes gone manic. "I'll keep you safe. No matter what. Nothing will happen to you. I'll never let anything happen to you. You'll be with me forever."_

**The one who should have seen had been so blind, but it was only when he was shoved into a black room that he could see. **

_He howled in outrage as the faceless Watchers shackled him with enchanted silver and threw him into a cell with no windows. His suffering meant nothing to them. He was just a vampire pet, ordered into imprisonment. He rattled his runed chains, fighting to get free. _

"_Don't do this! Don't! How could you!" he screamed, "I've never done anything to any of you! Kiku! KIKU! TORIS! Please! Please tell them I'm here! They'd never let this happen to me! This is a mistake! Arthur - he's not well! He'll come around. Please!"_

_His captors said nothing, nothing but grey unfamiliar and unsympathetic faces. One of them stepped forward and with a start, he realized it was Arthur. His expression full of wild, repressed fear, so unfamiliar he couldn't even recognize him at first. _

"_Unfold your hands," Arthur commanded and the yoke upon his body burned him into submitting. He uncurled his fingers and the Watcher gently tugged at his bone ring._

"_Artie. No, please," he begged, tears blurring his vision. "Please, don't do this. You don't _need_ to do this." The ring slipped off, disappearing into Arthur's pocket. With it went the love in which it was given. He screamed, feeling his world turning into shadow._

"_Shhh, shh," the Watcher hushed, cupping his cheek. But he couldn't stop screaming, the Watcher's touch like a cold tendril of fear. He screamed for his sun, his love, his freedom. All of them gone with his little white ring. _

**He didn't think it could possibly get any worse.**

**How could he have been so stupid?**

_The Watcher was growing impatient, unable to understand why he didn't see this as a necessary act. Grabbing his chin, Arthur slapped a hand over his mouth to silence him. _

"_Be a good boy," he hissed._

**How did he not see this coming?**

_The Collar took over, silencing his voice. His body buckled, resistance chained by the yoke upon his soul. Every muscle, every bone turned against his will. Even his eyes betrayed him, growing dull and dry. His mind trapped in the worst prison imaginable._

_Now only his soul screamed, even as he felt his lips twist into a smile._

"_Yes, Arthur."_

~o~

Alfred started awake from his nightmare, his breath seizing up with a bubble of panic that had snagged onto his mind like a spur. He blinked slowly, getting a sense for his bearings. The moon shone down from above, as bright and full as a drop of milk. The air was cool, still sickly summery sweet, filled with the chirp of crickets and buzzing dragonflies.

A small muffled noise sounded behind him, making the vampire nearly jump out of his skin. He turned around. A chill of horror crawled through him as he saw Arthur curled up on the blanket beside him, his face serene and content.

Holy shit, what had he done?

Bile rose up in Alfred's throat and he pushed himself away as quickly as he could without risking waking the other man. Arthur never even reacted to the movement, his mind lost to whatever abyss it had been banished to in sleep. Crouching around him, Alfred carefully picked his things up, especially making sure that his ring was still on his finger where it belonged.

It looked like Arthur hadn't done anything to him, but he trusted the Watcher just as much as he trusted a cat not to play with its food. Tugging his yukata back over his shoulders, he trembled not just from the cool air but the horrifying memories that still haunted him.

His sleeper's eye had exaggerated the details, but not by that much. That day, Arthur _broke_ and became nothing but a manifestation of pure fear. But neither of them knew the effect the mispoken words would have on the chain on Alfred's soul.

Eventually, Arthur got better.

Alfred didn't.

Arthur let Alfred out of his cell with a thousand apologies. Never realizing that the Alfred he knew was still imprisoned. Never questioning why Alfred just smiled and forgave him so easily, like a good boy would.

Half a year he'd spent as Arthur's unwilling thrall and the man had never even _noticed_. Like it was a _given _that Alfred would be the perfect slave to him. Half a year he'd spent locked up in his own body, silently screaming, begging, crying for Arthur to see him. Of course, Arthur was horrified once _finally _he realized what he'd done. But he was six months too late.

"_You're worse than Vlad_," Alfred told him. The last words he'd ever spoken to him before he took off, never to see Arthur again. Until fifty years later. Even now, he could remember like it was yesterday how Arthur's face twisted with pain, as the words plunged into him like a knife. Right before Alfred ripped his throat out.

It felt good at the time, even though it took months for his burns to heal from Arthur's toxic blood.

But now...?

Alfred closed his eyes, feeling his stomach roil with a thousand regrets. If only- if only he had never agreed to the Collar in the first place. Yet it had seemed fair at the time. They thought it would help. It didn't. It was just another one of many of Arthur's misguided ideas.

_The path to hell is paved with good intentions._

Curled up on himself, Alfred wearily glanced over at the sleeping Watcher. He just... didn't understand how someone he loved could turn into someone so _terrible._ His chest ached, missing his fearless young writer, who had been the sun to his moon.

"_Don't worry. I will never burn you..." _spoke a long treasured memory that made his eyes prick with tears.

Where had he gone?

...and could he get him back?

Alfred stilled at the thought. Could he...? He looked over his shoulder, towards the guestroom where he knew the teak gilded passcon lay nestled in his bag. The nanites _hadn't_ killed Arthur. Or made him disappear. But they did do _something_. More than anything he'd ever seen affect the Watcher's anti-nature before.

Maybe, just maybe, he could figure out a way to make Arthur the way he was. To be able to dream, to write, to do magic, to live without his fear and paranoia. To be happy again. Could he engineer nanites to interfere in that way? To make him almost human again? Was it too much to hope for?

Well, it had taken Kiku a century to get just this far. But Alfred had _much _more time than that, if he played his cards right. But then, Kiku also had the considerable resources of the Watchers at his disposal. Something that Alfred gave up when he left for good, joyriding hack attacks aside.

But if he went back...

Alfred's stomach roiled at the thought, rebelling against the very idea. Why should he even consider going back to that viper's nest? But if it was a chance to bring _his_ Arthur back... The vampire looked back to his former lover, his gaze intense as two wills warred within him.

"_Honor the memory of what you once were..."_

The words floated back to him, soft and comforting like a squeeze of his shoulder. "...Damn it, Kiku," Alfred muttered under his breath as he shook his head. However, his stupid, _stupid_ heart had already made its decision. "God, I'm such a masochist," the vampire sighed, as he went to get himself ready.

~o~

The air was warm, smelling of grass and cool streams, trilling with the morning cicadas. Slowly, the lithe man sleeping out in the sun began to rouse, mind pulled back to the land of the living. Arthur stretched languidly like a cat, feeling happy and sated, though his skin was tight in a way that indicated he might be sunburnt. He didn't care. That had been such a wonderful dream, being with Alfred, holding him, kissing him, hearing him cry out in passion. It was _bliss_.

Then he remembered with a sudden start. He didn't dream anymore.

"Arthur," he heard a voice call out and Arthur almost didn't dare turn over to look towards it. His heart thundering in his chest, he braved it and turned his eyes towards the inside of the house. There Alfred stood, looking incredibly uncomfortable in his red and black Watcher body armor. Arthur didn't even realize he kept his set. "We should get going."

Arthur stared blankly at him. "Where?" he asked, still not quite comprehending what was going on. Was he dreaming _now?_

"Back to base. I'm going back with you," Alfred said and put on a smile that looked incredibly forced. "I mean, can't exactly ignore what happened yesterday, now can we?"

"I..." the immortal started, swallowing thickly as he tried to find something of actual _intelligence_ to say, when bells of elation were tolling in his mind. "R-really? Just like that?"

"...I'm going to have conditions," the vampire answered after a pause.

"_Anything_," Arthur agreed faster than he could think.

Nodding, Alfred went on and listed them off his fingers. "Alright, I want my own lab, off the network. I want unlimited resources. I want full access to all Watcher archives and databases. And I want my own room."

...Well, that certainly put a damper on Arthur's enthusiasm. Moreover, it did not take a genius to realize that the vampire had his own agenda. However, he was finding that he didn't particularly _care._ Not when it meant that Alfred would be back with him. It wasn't as if the vampire had gotten up to any (significant) mischief in the fifty years since he left.

"Very well..." Arthur agreed slowly, pushing himself up to a kneeling position.

"Oh, and one more thing. _Anything _between us," Alfred cut in, waving a hand to gesture between their two bodies. "_Completely_ on my terms. You can't just come into my room and demand a booty call whenever you like."

"I assume that means I am not allowed to give you any orders whatsoever...?" Arthur added slowly. He winced as Alfred's expression turned so cold that his skin felt frosty.

"That goes without saying," he replied, his voice quiet, the threat laced in every word.

Arthur grit his teeth, unused to getting such a tone from _anyone._ However, he kept his mouth shut, determined not to ruin this chance to have Alfred back in his life. He knew that he needed to pay penance. ...Though one would _think_ that fifty years of the cold shoulder and getting his throat torn out was penance enough.

Willing himself to be patient, Arthur turned a smile on the vampire. "Alright, no orders. Cross my heart and hope to die," he jested, expecting some sort of laugh or derisive snort. However, Alfred only looked at him with a sudden shade of wariness that made Arthur uneasy. Before he could ask about it, Alfred abruptly turned on his heel.

"I'm bringing Kiku with us. So don't open my bag or you'll get bones and ashes everywhere," he announced, heading back inside to get himself ready for departure.

Arthur stayed where he was for a moment longer, trying to process what had just happened. It wasn't _exactly_ all his wishes come true, but it would have been entirely too suspicious if it was. No, this was better. It was a start. To something old, something new? Who knew. All that mattered was that Alfred would be back safe in the fold and soothe his ragged paranoia. Close enough to see, close enough to talk to. Close enough for something _more_.

In record time, Arthur was ready to go, nervous and excited as he waited for Alfred to get on his own bike. The house had been closed down and Arthur already made arrangements for the local Watchers to routinely maintain the property. Now all that remained was to go back _home._

"Alfred," he called out, catching the vampire's attention. "I love you."

Caught off guard, Alfred looked at him with wide, surprised eyes that made Arthur's heart skip a beat. "L-love you too," he replied, stumbling over the words. It didn't sound as genuine as Arthur would have liked. But that was alright. They had eternity to fix that. "Come on, let's go," Alfred called out, revving his engine and tearing off down the mountainside to head into town.

Smiling, Arthur took one look back at the empty house and murmured softly, "Thank you, Kiku." Then he took off after the other, his heart filled with more hope than it had in years. He had a feeling that everything was going to turn out alright.

And if not...? He would _make _it turn out alright.


End file.
